Shift: The Beginning of War, the Ending of War |
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War: How and Why It Started and How and Why We Can Free Outselves From ItThis is a book that takes belief in the inevitability of war apart. Is making war inevitable? Why do we make war? Have we always made war? If we haven’t, when and why did we start? Shift explores why our time in history is poised to put an enduring end to a brutal cultural phenomenon. It presents a strategy for how to accomplish a Great Cultural Transformation. "I hold deep admiration for the great pioneering work of Dr. Judith Hand for a world without war which is possible when people believe passionately and work for it. Shift explains 'Why and How'". |
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Shift is written for:
- Doing a research project on war or on ending war;
- social transformation activists in civil society and faith-based communities;
- academics interested in human evolution and war, especially those in the fields of political science, anthropology, human evolutionary biology, and sociology;
- academics in women’s studies, because Shift presents a unique theory for the nature of women’s use of aggression and general aversion to war;
- any educated reader who is curious about war, from veterans who have personally seen or experienced war’s many harms to moms sending their children off to fight the next one.
"Judith Hand marshals knowledge and insight from biological, cultural, and political sciences to argue persuasively that now is the time in human development to extinguish the fires of war. She demonstrates that such a mammoth shift of human spirit and politics is possible, in fact crucial to human survival…she invites us to take part in this historical psychological, social, and institutional shift toward resolving differences through law with justice instead of bullets and bombs."- Douglas P. Fry, Ph.D., Director of Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research - Åbo Akademi, University in Vasa, Finland. Author of Beyond War: The Human Potential for Peace
Synopsis
“What if someone could convince you that we actually have the power to permanently end war? What if someone could convince you that once we resolve to make that happen, we could free ourselves from war in two generations or less?” With those words, evolutionary biologist Judith Hand opens her exploration of why we make war, when we started making war, and why and how we can, if we choose, move forward into a future without war. In accessible, clear language, Hand marshals knowledge and insight from biological, cultural, and political sciences to persuasively make her case. The depth and breadth of knowledge covered makes it essential reading for anyone interested in war and peace. The notion that we might actually be able to abolish war may seem—may in fact be—utopian, but Dr. Hand explains why and how this achievement is possible. Shift: The Beginning of War, The Ending of War demonstrates that the current century blesses us with a rare but narrowing opportunity to achieve what generations before us could not. As one reader wrote: “Judith Hand invites each and every one of us who cares about the future of the human family to take part in this historical psychological, social, and institutional shift toward resolving differences through law with justice instead of bullets and bombs.
“What if someone could convince you that we actually have the power to permanently end war? What if someone could convince you that once we resolve to make that happen, we could free ourselves from war in two generations or less?” With those words, evolutionary biologist Judith Hand opens her exploration of why we make war, when we started making war, and why and how we can, if we choose, move forward into a future without war. In accessible, clear language, Hand marshals knowledge and insight from biological, cultural, and political sciences to persuasively make her case. The depth and breadth of knowledge covered makes it essential reading for anyone interested in war and peace. The notion that we might actually be able to abolish war may seem—may in fact be—utopian, but Dr. Hand explains why and how this achievement is possible. Shift: The Beginning of War, The Ending of War demonstrates that the current century blesses us with a rare but narrowing opportunity to achieve what generations before us could not. As one reader wrote: “Judith Hand invites each and every one of us who cares about the future of the human family to take part in this historical psychological, social, and institutional shift toward resolving differences through law with justice instead of bullets and bombs.
Praise for Shift
"On a level with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Shift raises the questions and sets the agenda for future studies. The depth and breadth of knowledge in Shift makes it essential reading for anyone interested in war and the possibilities of peace. From a biological and anthropological perspective, this remarkable book challenges myths surrounding the more traditional understanding of why we, as a species, make war and our propensity for violence. Shift offers grounds for hope that we may be close to permanently ending our love affair with war."
- Sean English, Ph.D., Former Director of Saor-Ollscoil (The Free University of Ireland 2000-2007),Convener of the "Peace Theories Commission of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA), Academic Director of the National College of Business Administration (NCBA) and author of "The Collapse of the War System" (2007)
"The scientific method has changed our moral landscape. Before we knew how to find out why we behave the way we do, we lived in a state of ignorance. Evolution, a blind and amoral process, shaped us to want and need certain things in order to reproduce." With these words, Judith Hand goes to core of the any debate on the origins of conflict and war. Judith Hand brings the all important woman's perspective - a perspective central to understanding the origins of war - and more important, the means to avoid war."
- Malcolm Potts, Ph.D., Professor, Population and Family Planning, UC Berkeley and author of "Sex and War"
"In Shift: The Beginning of War, The Ending of War Judith Hand has written a book for the ages, and our time on earth might be shorter than we’d like if we don’t heed her warnings and follow her outlines to a world free of war…forever! Many of us have been waiting years to read a book like this. Only a biologist understands the dangers of ignoring the implacable elements of evolved human nature. She demonstrates that the current century blesses us with a rare but narrowing opportunity to end war. Do it now or it may be too late. I heed her rallying cry and hope you join us."
- Clarence “Sonny” Williams, Sr. Executive, Commercial Insurance Industry
"Judith Hand’s Shift: The Beginning of War, The Ending of War offers meaningful insights on a topic of great importance for all of humanity: why we go to war and what can be done to avoid war. She brings to bear a biologist’s training and perspective and years of research and thought. The notion that we might actually be able to end war may seem—may in fact be—utopian, but Dr. Hand lays out a strong case that this achievement is possible. This argument deserves widespread attention. Shift will be an important book and deserves publication by a major publishing house."
- Robert S. McElvaine, Professor of History Millsaps College and author of "Eve’s Seed: Biology, the Sexes and the Course of History" and nine other books
"Judith Hand has laid out in this book a plan for the next great abolition movement, a movement both possible and necessary for the survival of human civilization. With the success of this movement to abolish war, we may discover that what we have heretofore called civilization, however, quickly begins to look primitive and destructive in comparison with what we are able to develop."
- David Swanson, activist and author of "War Is A Lie"
Table of Contents
Why We Make War
Part I - Introduction
Chapter 1 - Why I Wrote This Book
Part II - Why We Make War
Chapter 2 - Psychological Causes of War
Chapter 3 - Proximate Causes of War
Chapter 4 - Ultimate Causes of War
Part III - The Beginning - Have We Always Made War?
Chapter 5 - Bonobos, Chimpanzees, and Ardi
Chapter 6 - Man the Warrior or Humans the Cooperators
Chapter 7 - The Unintended Consequences of Settled Living
Part IV - Women: Power and War
Chapter 8 - Matriarchy?
Chapter 9 - Women as Warriors
How We Can End War
Part V - The Plan
Chapter 10 - Cornerstones of a Campaign to End War
Part VI - Grounds for Hope
Chapter 11 - We Can Change and Change Rapidly
Part VI - The End Game
Chapter 12 - Pulling Elements of the Plan Together
Chapter 13 - Summing it All Up
Table 1 – Simple vs. Complex Hunter-Gatherers
Table 2 – Reasons Women Took Up Arms
Table 3 – Conquerors or Revolutionaries
Appendix I – Organizations Associated with the Ending War Cornerstones
Appendix II – Pinker’s Better Angels and the AFWW Nine Cornerstones. Compares the five major factors put forward by Steven Pinker in his recent book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence is Declining with the Nine Cornerstones described in Shift as being essentials for ending war, looking for similarities. The rationale is that if we find that two very different approaches to this complex problem arrive at the same conclusion as to what is vital to end war, it bolsters our confidence that these particular challenges are indeed critical.
Appendix III – Douglas Fry’s Life Without War and the AFWW Nine Cornerstones. Compares six essential shared characteristics of three peace systems Douglas Fry describes in his Science article “Life Without War” with the Nine Cornerstones described in Shift as being essentials for ending war, looking for similarities. The rationale is that if we find that two very different approaches to this complex problem arrive at the same conclusion as to what is vital to end war, if bolsters our confidence that these particular challenges are indeed critical.
Bibliography
About the Author
Index
Why We Make War
Part I - Introduction
Chapter 1 - Why I Wrote This Book
Part II - Why We Make War
Chapter 2 - Psychological Causes of War
Chapter 3 - Proximate Causes of War
Chapter 4 - Ultimate Causes of War
Part III - The Beginning - Have We Always Made War?
Chapter 5 - Bonobos, Chimpanzees, and Ardi
Chapter 6 - Man the Warrior or Humans the Cooperators
Chapter 7 - The Unintended Consequences of Settled Living
Part IV - Women: Power and War
Chapter 8 - Matriarchy?
Chapter 9 - Women as Warriors
How We Can End War
Part V - The Plan
Chapter 10 - Cornerstones of a Campaign to End War
Part VI - Grounds for Hope
Chapter 11 - We Can Change and Change Rapidly
Part VI - The End Game
Chapter 12 - Pulling Elements of the Plan Together
Chapter 13 - Summing it All Up
Table 1 – Simple vs. Complex Hunter-Gatherers
Table 2 – Reasons Women Took Up Arms
Table 3 – Conquerors or Revolutionaries
Appendix I – Organizations Associated with the Ending War Cornerstones
Appendix II – Pinker’s Better Angels and the AFWW Nine Cornerstones. Compares the five major factors put forward by Steven Pinker in his recent book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence is Declining with the Nine Cornerstones described in Shift as being essentials for ending war, looking for similarities. The rationale is that if we find that two very different approaches to this complex problem arrive at the same conclusion as to what is vital to end war, it bolsters our confidence that these particular challenges are indeed critical.
Appendix III – Douglas Fry’s Life Without War and the AFWW Nine Cornerstones. Compares six essential shared characteristics of three peace systems Douglas Fry describes in his Science article “Life Without War” with the Nine Cornerstones described in Shift as being essentials for ending war, looking for similarities. The rationale is that if we find that two very different approaches to this complex problem arrive at the same conclusion as to what is vital to end war, if bolsters our confidence that these particular challenges are indeed critical.
Bibliography
About the Author
Index